The Cli-Fi Report is a portal for all things cli-fi, a subgenre of speculative fiction, with new links from blogs to videos to Wikipedia to Twitter to news links and Facebook Groups. See the portal, the largest Cli-Fi portal on the Internet at cli-fi.net / MEDIA inquiries at: danbloom@gmail.com

Friday, August 11, 2017

At WorldCon75 in Finland this year, ''Sci-Fi went Cli-Fi,'' with a well-attended panel featuring Cat Sparks from Australia, among others

Here's a photo that Cat snapped from the stage where she was one of the panel members. On her Faceook page, Cat, author of the new cli-fi novel LOTUS BLUE, wrote: ''Cli-fi panel - view from the stage.''

''In an environmentally conscious 21st century, there’s a new kid on the speculative fiction block – Cli-Fi. Our panel will begin by looking at the rise of climate focused science fiction and discuss what separates the good from the bad, before speculating on what influence these novels can have on the literary and political landscape.''

Attending WorldCon75, CE Murphy took this photo and tweeted: ''This #clifi panel at #Worldcon75 is full of ladies (and one dude)! #beams''

At WorldCon75 in Finland this year, ''Sci-Fi went Cli-Fi'' with a well-attended panel featuring Cat Sparks from Australia, author of the cli-fi novel LOTUS BLUE, and other writers. Yes, for the first time ever, an international science fiction fan convention featured a cli-fi panel exploring the rise of the cli-fi genre in the 21st century, with a five-person panel and moderator carrying the day forward. From all accounts (and live-tweets) it was a lively and spirited discussion and it marked the first time the cli-fi genre was welcomed in such a public way into the sci-fi community of writers, critics and fans worldwide. Bravo to the planning committee at WorldCon75 and those who were instrumental in making this happen and setting it up. Hopefully, as I told Cat in some emails and tweets and Facebook messages during the convention, more panels like this happen in the future and other WorldCons in 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and onward.

WorldCon75 marked a breakthrough.

Despite previous mild and skeptical naysaying on the part of the science fiction community of writers and fans on Twitter and Facebook (and in blogs and on SF websites) over the past several years, finally the SF world has accepted cli-fi as an accepted genre, and things are looking up for writers everywhere because of this.

With the success of the cli-fi panel this summer, WorldCon75 and the rising new genre has shown its power in standing up for itself and making peace with the naysayers. And it took a global SF forum to stand up for cli-fi and welcome the new genre into the fold.

NOTES:

During the panel, Cat Sparks said "The difference between cli-fi and 1960s eco-catastrophe is that the latter was cautionary. The former is mimetic.''

Cat also said: "I'd like to see a new genre fossil fuel divestment punk" during the Cli-Fi panel discussion @worldcon75.

Sci-fi writer and translator Ken Liu with Cat Sparks at WorldCon75 in Finland this summer.

Cat Sparks, author of the cli-fi novel LOTUS BLUE, in northern Europe on the way to WorldCon75 this summer of 2017.

At the WorldCon75 science fiction fan forum in Helsinki, Finland this week, ”Sci-Fi went Cli-Fi.” Yes, for the first time ever, a well-attended panel featuring Cat Sparks other writers from around the world discussed the rise of cli-fi as a new literary genre.

This was literary history in the making. For the first time ever, an international science fiction fan convention featured a cli-fi panel exploring the rise of the cli-fi genre in the 21st century, with a five-person panel and moderator carrying the day forward.

From all accounts (and live-tweets) it was a lively and spirited discussion and it marked the first time the cli-fi genre was welcomed in such a public way into the sci-fi community of writers, critics and fans worldwide.

Bravo to the planning committee at WorldCon75 and those who were instrumental in making this happen and setting it up.

Hopefully, as I told Cat in some Facebook messages during the convention, more panels like this will happen in the future at other WorldCons in 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and onward.

You can read more about the panel discussions here and see some photographs taken at the forum.